Page 90 of Hunter

He flicks open the box to reveal a diamond ring set in 14k gold, flanked by two perfect white pearls.

“Isabella Maria Gonzalez, there will never come a day when I don’t want to wake up and fall asleep by your side. There will never be a mountain too high, a river too wide, or an ocean too deep to keep me away. I choose you,mi amor, for this day, and every day hereafter. I choose you because I can’t—I don’t want—to live another day without you.”

He pauses for a second, scanning my face.

“I know how much your family means to you. I hope it’s okay that I called your dad last week to ask for his permission.”

“And he gave it?” I whisper, wiping the tears from my cheeks. I’m so touched by his thoughtfulness, I think my heart might burst from my chest. “Not that it really matters, but…did he?”

“It took a little convincing, but…” Hunter nods. “He did.”

My parents don’t know it yet, but they’re going to love him. Maybe even more than they love me.

“And I know how much McKenna means to you, so…” He glances at the ring, gently removing it from its white cushion. “She and Tanner joined me at Freya’s to choose it.”

More tears slide down my cheeks. How can you keep from crying when all of your dreams are coming true right in front of you? When the person you love most in the world—the person you will love until the end of time—is about to ask you to—

“I love you. I’ll love you until the day I die. I never want to be further from you than I am right now.” He reaches for my hand. “Will you marry me?”

—be his wife?

“Y-Yes!” I cry, holding out my trembling hand as he slips my beautiful ring onto the fourth finger. “Yes!”

The entire restaurant erupts in applause as I slide from my chair onto Hunter’s knee.

“I love you, too,” I tell him.

“We figured it out,” he says.

“Yes, we did,” I say, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him like there’s no tomorrow.

But there is a tomorrow, of course.

And one after that.

And another after that one, too.

And I intend to spend all of them—every single one—next to him.

THE END

Epilogue

Sawyer

Remember Regina George from “Mean Girls?”

How about Blair Waldorf from “Gossip Girl?”

Or Cheryl Blossom from “Riverdale”?

If your mind runs more to literary references, picture Veruca Salt from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” or Caroline Bingley from “Pride and Prejudice.”

(Can you tell I have three sisters? I do. And I’m flanked by two rom-com movie- and book-lovers—Parker and Reeve—in birth order.)

You know what Regina, Blair, Cheryl, Veruca and Caroline all have in common? I’ll tell you: they’re all stuck-up, snobby, and snooty. Entitled, beautiful and popular. They’re “rich bitches,” and my sisters hated them all.

But me?